Tarek Fatah: A voice of reason on the Nato Supply issue

As a diehard Bhuttoist and proud Jiyala, I am extremely troubled to see some fake civil society activists (pseudo-liberals) presenting themselves as pro-PPP but at the same time undermining the very foundations of the elected parliament.

My leader, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, was killed by religious fanatics namely Taliban, Al Qaeda and their mentors and affiliates. Why would I have any objection to the provision of those supplies which international community needs to neutralize the threat of Al Qaeda and Taliban?

As a Pakistani who does not see honour in xenophobia and conspiracy theories, much of the debate on the NATO supply routes is both disappointing and disturbing. It is disappointing because of the dishonesty of some sections of the press (Jang Group, The Friday Times, Jinnah Institute etc) a decision made by parliament. Any one who has followed Pakistan’s history since 1947 knows that such decisions are tightly controlled by the military bureaucracy, the permanent State and NOT the elected representatives of the people. Those who can deny this in the light of 1948, 1965, 1971, 1984, 1988, 1996, 1999, 2008-present are only fooling themselves.

In a recent debate on Twitter, the only person who made any sense on this topic was Pakistani-Canadian Tarek Fatah.  I was troubled to see  the statements made by some journalists who present themselves as liberal and Pro-PPP (yes, I am referring to the PTH-PTI-JinnahInstitute group) but whose statements reflect the opposite.

As has been pointed out by PPP and ANP parliamentarians and leaders of the ruling government coalition in the last few weeks, re-opening the NATO supply routes benefits Pakistan both politically and economically while opposing such an initiative places us against 40 other countries that are part of NATO and most of which like Turkey are some of Pakistan’s allies. However, to present the false picture that the PPP is calling the shots on this one is the height of dishonesty.

In the streets, the Difa-e-Pakistan Council that is strongly supported by PTI (Imran Khan) is raising blood curling slogans against the PPP. The parliamentary representatives of DPC, the PML-N, is creating a ruckus in the assemblies. The media and judiciary, as if on cue, are also working overtime to undermine the PPP on this and other issues. And the strings for all these actors are being pulled from you-know-who. It is GHQ (Pakistan army) which is calling the shots on this one and in the end, the PPP has to chime what they say.

In my opinion as a Jiyala, the PPP has to do what is good for the country and that is re-opening the NATO supply routes. Having said that I do not envy the position of President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani who have to convey to GHQ that the latter’s brinksmanship negotiating tactics (such as the activation of DPC) have backfired and earned the displeasure of many countries that are part of NATO.

Contrary to media misinformation, NATO has UN mandate and unless one resides in the PTI-DPC-Jinnah Institute complex, NATO has UN mandate for its presence in Afghanistan. This is not to say that NATO has not made mistakes and should not be critisized.  However, we cannot expect the rest of the world to take us seriously, especially when rogue elements still support the Taliban and OBL is found in a compound in Abbottabad.  We cannot expect NATO and the US to take us seriously when we demand an apology for Salala but remain silent and inactive against the Taliban who have killed far more of our brave soldiers.

Similarly, pretending as though the re-opening the NATO supply routes is in the hands of parliament is a bit rich – especially coming from the “liberal” champions of the #SherryRehmanLobby.

Just before the murder of PPP governor Salmaan Taseer, Sherry Rehman (founder of pro-army Jinnah Institute) had presented a private member’s bill in parliament to amend the blasphemy law. An excellent initiative on the surface and one that I support. However, as a member of parliament who was appointed on a reserved seat – as opposed to being elected from a constituency – Sherry had done nothing substantive to create support in parliament for this bill. It was presented when the PPP government had been ditched by two of its coalition allies – the MQM and the JUI-F and simply did not have the numbers to pass it.

Meanwhile the security establishment, media, PML-N, PTI and judiciary were whipping up extremist sentiments on the streets which lead to the murder of Governor Taseer. Instead of standing with her besieged party, Sherry Rehman used this opportunity to score cheap points against them in the media.

Just months later, her Jinnah Institute published a pro-Taliban report without any dissenting note – kind of like our Judiciary. So much for caring for the rights of minorities. Now a lobby group of journalists loyal to her want us to respect the “mandate of the (same) Parliament – the same parliament that was being vilified by the budding aspirants (Nasim Zehra) of the Jinnah Institute just a year ago. Hypocrisy has no bounds!

Currently, the #SherryRehmanLobby is working to undermine Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar. This lobby has already placed two paid activists of PML N; one in the Foreign office (he appears on Al-Jazeera and presents himself as liberal) and another in the Jinnah Institute- which is now being headed by someone widely known as the unofficial ISPR spokesperson to the Pakistani media. Another for sale consultant too is a part of the same club. While one can have a difference of opinion with Foreign Minster Hina Rabbani Khar, she is more loyal than Sherry Rahman to PPP and has won elections from her constituency – unlike Ms. Rehman who would be hard-pressed to win even a local councillar’s seat.  The script provided by Sherry, which is unfortunately being read out by Chairman Bilawal and President Zardari, is not in the best interests of Pakistan.

As a PPP supporter and activist, I would like to alert my party to the efforts of the Sherry Rehman Lobby. This ISI Trojan horse, filled with the staff of the Jinnah Institute and aided by several elitist propagandists and operatives placed in various media houses and think tanks, can bring nothing but destruction to the PPP and Pakistan. The last Pakistani ambassador to the United States was Mr. Husain Haqqani whose “Between Mosque and the Military State” is a good primer on the tentacles of the security establishment. What an irony that his successor is Sherry Rehman, author of the ISI-esque foreign policy elites views on the future of Afghanistan. Pakistan’s international standing can only get worse if this lobby creates further space for itself within the current PPP-led government.

Source: WSF

“Intelligence failure” is the most easily available excuse for the government in Pakistan following the daring Taliban and Sipah-e-Sahaba jailbreak in the northern city of Bannu early on April 15. However, more than intelligence failure, the jailbreak appears to be an outcome of a well-planned drama by Pakistani security agencies, ISI in particular, which wanted to reinforce the Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and their affiliates (Jihadi-sectarian groups eg, ASWJ aka SSP) operating in Pakistan.

According to Akbar Hoti, the police chief of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province, where the jailbreak was carried out, between 150 and 200 attackers fired rockets on the main gate of the jail and released around 384 dangerous prisoners, 20 of whom are described as “very dangerous,” including Adnan Rashid, who was convicted of participating in an attack on former President Pervez Musharraf. A large number of the escaped prisoners belonged to the Taliban, Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (operating as ASWJ and LeJ) and other Jihadi-Salafi and Jihadi-Deobandi militants.

Bannu borders the restive North Waziristan tribal agency where Pakistan army is currently busy in playing hide and seek with the Taliban (also known as Good Taliban Bad Taliban game). However, the April 15 jailbreak was particularly shocking and raises many questions about the collusion between Pakistan army and Taliban/ASWJ.

How did hundreds of Taliban militants manage to cross scores of police and army checkpoints inside the city, as well as entry and exit points to and from adjacent tribal areas?

Why did no police or army reinforcements reach the site, even though the attack continued for more than two hours?

And if an “intelligence failure” is really to be blamed, how can the security of other cities — like Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, and Peshawar, which are located on the periphery of the tribal districts — be guaranteed in the days ahead?

Does the little or no resistance shown by prison guards point to the demoralization of the security force, making them sitting ducks for the Taliban and its supporters all over the country, or does that indicate the fact that the mother of all agencies had advised the police to step aside and let the Good Taliban do their urgent work?

Many security experts and top officials in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government believe that the involvement of senior officials in intelligence agencies cannot be ruled out.

Malak Naveed Khan, former chief of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police, says it is unbelievable to think that 150 to 200 heavily armed men could have entered the city, broken into the prison, and taken away nearly 400 prisoners without anyone moving to intercept them at any one of numerous checkpoints.

Equally important are the statements of the prison’s telephone operator, Shahab Khan, and Rahmatullah, one of the escaped prisoners who, with others, returned to the jail the next morning to surrender.

Shahab Khan said he was sending requests for reinforcements for more than two hours and that each time he was assured that help was on the way.

Rahmatullah said he saw 50 to 60 pickup trucks parked around the jail on the main highway, ostensibly used to transport the attackers, and heard the attackers shouting at the prisoners in Urdu to leave the vicinity.

So what really happened?

We’ll have to wait at least 15 days for the conclusions of an inquiry report into the attack by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government. That may provide some answers. But of course the world is still waiting for the results of an official inquiry into the events of May 2, 2011, in Abbottabad, when Osama bin Laden was killed.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Source: Daud Khattak, RFERL

Despite the duration of the attack, the prison guards apparently received no back-up from the military.

“We have freed hundreds of our comrades in Bannu in this attack. Several of our people have reached their destinations, others are on their way,” a Taliban spokesman told Reuters.

Reports said that anywhere up to 100 fighters were involved in the attack that began sometime before dawn, and were equipped with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades.

Having breached the walls of the jail, the militants apparently made their way to the section where prisoners who are on death row were held.

Their priority appears to have been securing the release of Adnan Rashid, who was in jail for his role in a failed assassination against former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.

For up to two hours the militants fought with the jail’s guards before setting part of the jail on fire and releasing the inmates. Officials said 20 of those who escaped were considered particularly dangerous.

The incident is a reminder that the Pakistani military has little appetite to confront militants who are not a threat to the state.

Imtiaz Gul, an author and head of the Centre for Research and Security Studies, an Islamabad-based think-tank, said the incident was a huge embarrassment that demanded a full investigation. He said it appeared that the militants had received inside information about the location of their jailed colleagues.

“This is unprecedented in the history of Pakistan. It’s a huge embarrassment for the entire security apparatus,” he said. “This went on for two hours and the army or paramilitaries should have had time to get there.” (Source)

Who is Adnan Rashid and why did he enjoy special facilities in prison?

Adnan Rashid, a high profile prisoner who escaped from Bannu Central Prison on Sunday morning, was enjoying the facility of cellular phone inside the death cells of different jails where he was lodged after being sentenced to death by a field general court martial for his alleged attempt on the life of Gen (retired) Pervez Musharraf.

A former junior technician of Pakistan Air Force, Adnan Rashid is a resident of Chota Lahor area of Swabi district. He is fluent in English, Pashto and Urdu. He used to contribute to several social networking sites including Blogs and Facebook from the prison. He had joined PAF in 1997. He was around 24 when he was arrested in early 2004.

The escaped prisoner was in contact with the world outside the prison through his cellular phone, according to sources. He was also in touch with several journalists and used to send them messages through short message service (SMS).

Prior to his escape, Adnan continued to plead his innocence and claimed that his only crime was that he had voted “No” in the referendum held by the then military president Gen Musharraf.

He had pinned high hopes on the judiciary led by Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry when his review petition along with that of several other convicts against their conviction was pending but after dismissal of his petition in March 2011 he started questioning the independence of judiciary.

Recently, he sent a sarcastic SMS to different persons which states: “There are millions of cases pending before high courts and Supreme Court, 99.9 per cent of these are actually appeals against verdicts of lower courts. Billions of rupees are being spent on higher civil courts so why not this judicial system is replaced by military courts; these are swift, require no judge, no special courtrooms or bars, and most interesting court martial are unchallengeable so no more need of high and supreme courts. It saves time and money of nation. What do you think? From a court martial convict.”

In the first life attempt on Gen Musharraf that took place near Jhanda Chichi Bridge at Rawalpindi on Dec 14, 2003, six personnel of PAF including Adnan Rashid were convicted by a field general court martial on Oct 3, 2005, at PAF Base Chaklala.

Besides Adnan, four others — ex-chief technician Khalid Mehmood, ex-senior technician, Karam Din, ex-corporal Nawazish and ex-junior technician Niaz Mohammad — were sentenced to death whereas another junior technician, Nasrullah, was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Their appeal was dismissed by a PAF appellate court in Feb 2006. Later on, their petitions were dismissed by Lahore High Court on March 28, 2006. Against that judgment they filed appeals before the Supreme Court and a three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry rejected the same on Sept 25, 2006.

The bench held that under Article 199 of the Constitution, civil courts had no jurisdiction to issue writ against orders passed by military courts. Their review petitions were also dismissed on March 31, 2011 by the apex court.

A soldier of Pakistan Army, Abdul Islam Siddiqui, who was separately tried in the same case by a court martial, had already been hanged on Aug 20, 2005.

The interviews of Adnan Rashid, when he was in prison, were also uploaded on Facebook, wherein he argued against flaws in Army Act, Pakistan Air Force Act and Navy Act and urged the Supreme Court to intervene in these cases. He had also sent several letters to Chief Justice of Pakistan requesting him to look into the flaws in their cases.

In one of his letters to the chief justice, he claimed that at the time of the said occurrence he was on duty in Quetta and was picked up by personnel of an intelligence agency on Jan 9, 2004.

When he was transferred to civil detention facility, he was initially lodged in a death cell at Haripur prison from where he was shifted to Peshawar jail. In Sept last he was shifted to Bannu prison.One of the reporters receiving regular messages from him said that in almost all the prisons he was having cellular phones. He had to change his number several times as during search operations in the prisons on several occasions he was deprived of his phone. However, after few days he was again enjoying the said facility. (Source)

Intelligence Debacle or a ISI-Taliban-ASWJ Collusion?

Somewhere between 100 and 150 militants launched an assault on Bannu Central Prison soon after midnight on Saturday. Blowing the main gates apart with rocket-propelled grenades, they caused 384 of over 900 inmates in the facility to escape in what is being described as the country’s biggest jailbreak. It is disturbing to know that the most high-profile of the escaped prisoners was Adnan Rashid, sentenced to death for an attempt on the life of Pervez Musharraf and whose release was the apparent objective of the assault. Equally alarming is the escape of some other hardened criminals on death row including known militants. The raid, responsibility for which has been claimed by the TTP, was obviously well planned; while some men were inside the jail, others erected barricades at all the access roads. As it turned out, though, the militants met with virtually no resistance.

Such a lapse (if it is an unintentional lapse at all) of intelligence, after a series of security breaches including the GHQ attack and later the undetected presence of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad and the assault on PNS Mehran, casts serious doubts over the abilities as well as intention of the security and law-enforcement establishments. The area from Bannu to Miramshah has long been considered militant-infested and the Pakistan Army maintains a significant presence there. Unlike the tribal areas, the law-enforcement apparatus is extant; Pakistan army has numerous check-posts on roads leading to FATA and across the border. The fact that dozens of Taliban-ASWJ vehicles attacked a prison, spent good four or five hours in the prison, celebrated their victory, then travelled back safe and secure to Waziristan shows there is much more than what meets eyes. Such a strike, which must have taken months of planning, cannot be conducted without the knowledge of the intelligence network. Why should Pakistanis, or indeed the world, trust the ISI and Pakistan army when they say they have the security situation under control? Not only did a convoy of vehicles reach the jail without difficulty, the absence of a rapid response betrayed the security apparatus’s total lack of preparedness, to say the least. And this despite more than a decade of resisting militant groups that appear to be far more organised.

As a result of this debacle, the militants’ ranks are sure to be swelled by a large number of new recruits, with the Pakistani Taliban and their sectarian affiliates (Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan) being even further emboldened. This incident should make clear to those who give excuses and justifications for the militants’ excesses what the intentions of such elements towards the Pakistani state are: they have not simply declared a war on drone strikes or the American presence in Afghanistan. As for the security establishment, so often in the news for sordid tales such as ‘Mehrangate’, the incident should serve as a reminder of what its priorities should be. (Source)

Taliban’s statement

A Taliban commander who helped plan an assault on a Pakistani jail on Sunday which freed nearly 400 prisoners said his group had inside information.Pakistan’s Taleban movement, which is close to al-Qaeda and Sipah-e-Sahaba (ASWJ), said it was behind the brazen assault by militants armed with rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles.

“We had maps of the area and we had complete maps and plans of the jail as well,” the commander, a senior member of the Taleban, said by phone. “All I have to say is we have people who support us in Bannu. It was with their support that this operation was successful.”

The Bannu attackers arrived in a convoy of vehicles, blocking off all access points to the jail before firing rocket-propelled grenades at the black, metal gates of the prison and forcing their way in.

They moved through the prison quickly, facing little resistance, until they found Adnan Rasheed, who took part in one of the attempts to kill Gen Musharraf, and then freed him and 383 others.

Citing preliminary investigations, Mr Majeed said 150 guards were supposed to be on duty when the militants struck, but only 36 were.

The Taleban commander, based in North Waziristan, said 150 fighters, including foreigners, launched the prison assault after months of training.

Police officials said 76 escapees were now back in custody.

One, Zahir Shah, 29, said: “They took us with them to the main gate. Outside there were many cars. I think 20 cars in all. They shoved me into one of the vehicles and drove off really fast.” However, he turned himself in, saying: “I could be out in a few years for good behaviour. I don’t want to ruin my chances.” (Source)

ISI’s officials claim no intelligence failure in Bannu jailbreak

Reported by Waqar Ahmed, The News, April 17, 2012

ISLAMABAD: Concerned officials have strongly denied that the Bannu jailbreak incident was the result of intelligence failure. They added that the militants had only taken away one hardcore terrorist.

Speaking here on Monday morning, concerned officials said that on January 5, 2012 a letter was sent to all concerned warning of terrorist attacks. The letter stated: “Reportedly terrorist commander Askari, ex Tariq Jeedar group, is planning to carry out massive terrorist activity in KP and Kohat area.” The letter identified possible targets as the Lachi Police Station, PAF Base Kohat, Kohat Cantt and Bannu Jail to free terrorists.

The letter added: “This merits extreme vigilance and heightened security measures at all levels.” Unfortunately, the Bannu jail authorities ignored the warning.Sources well versed with the development said that 341 prisoners had escaped. This included 145 who were in judicial custody, 95 who were under 302 PPC, 30 were serving sentences for narcotics offences, 21 were serving life imprisonment, 21 were on death row, 24 held under the Frontier Crimes Regulation and five were female prisoners. They said the only important prisoner who was taken away by the militants was Adnan Rasheed, involved in an attack on General Pervez Musharraf. “Therefore, reports about large-scale breakout of the Taliban from the jail and intelligence failure are totally false,” they added. (Source)

Nazir Naji writes:

پاکستان میں دہشت گردوں نے ایک بڑی کارروائی کی۔ شاید پاکستان کی تاریخ میں یہ چھاپہ ماروں کی سب سے بڑی کارروائی تھی۔ ساٹھ ستر گاڑیوں پر دہشت گردوں کا ایک قافلہ بھاری اور جدید اسلحہ سے لیس ‘ کسی نوٹس میں آئے بغیر بنوں کی جیل تک پہنچا۔ بنوں کی یہ جیل جدید انتظامات کے ساتھ تعمیر کی گئی تھی اور اس میں خطرناک قیدیوں کو رکھا گیا تھا۔ 20 کے قریب قیدی ایسے تھے‘ جنہیں انتہائی خطرناک قرار دے کر پھانسی کی سزائیں دی جا چکی تھیں اور وہ خصوصی حفاظتی انتظامات کے تحت موت کی کوٹھڑیوں میں رکھے گئے تھے۔ ظاہر ہے ایک نئی اور محفوظ جیل کی نگرانی کے لئے جو انتظامات ممکن تھے‘ وہ کئے گئے ہوں گے اور بنوں جو کہ شمالی وزیرستان سے زیادہ فاصلے پر نہیں‘ وہاں دہشت گردی کی جنگ بھی جاری ہے اور پاک فوج کی تادیبی کارروائیوں کی مہمات بھی چلائی جا رہی ہیں۔ بنوں جیل پر حملہ آور ہونے والے دہشت گردوں کی تعداد چار اور پانچ سو کے درمیان بتائی جا رہی ہے۔ یہ سارا ہجوم ہماری سکیورٹی کے تمام انتظامات کو درہم برہم کرتا ہو بنوں جیل تک کیسے پہنچ گیا؟ انہوں نے جیل کے دو بھاری آہنی دروازوں کو توڑ پھینکنے میں کیسے کامیابی حاصل کی؟ اور پھر علیحدہ علیحدہ بیرکوں اور کوٹھڑیوں میں بند قیدیوں تک کیسے پہنچے؟ خبریں یہ ہیں کہ وہ جیل کے اندر چار پانچ گھنٹے تک اپنے ساتھیوں سے ملتے‘ خوشی کے نعرے لگاتے اور اپنی کامیابی کا جشن مناتے رہے۔ ایک اطلاع تو یہ ہے کہ پرویزمشرف پر قاتلانہ حملہ کرنے کے ملزم کو سہرا پہنا کر دلہا بھی بنایا گیا اور اس کے بعد یہ پورا جلوس قریباً 400 قیدیوں کو ساتھ لے کر پاکستانی سرحد عبور کرنے میں کامیاب ہو گیا۔ خبروں میں کہیں یہ نہیں بتایا گیا کہ جیل کے حفاظتی عملے کی طرف سے کیا مزاحمت ہوئی؟ کتنے محافظ ہلاک ہوئے؟ کتنے زخمی ہوئے؟ کتنے دہشت گرد زخمی یا مار گرائے گئے؟ یہ جیل خانہ تھا یا کوئی مہمان خانہ؟ جہاں حملہ آوروں نے اتنی آسانی سے سینکڑوں قیدوں کو چھڑایا اور انہیں ساتھ لے کر کوئی نقصان اٹھائے بغیر نکل گئے۔ آج کے دور میں یہ ناقابل فہم بات ہے۔ قابل فہم تو اس سے پہلے والے کچھ واقعات بھی نہیں۔ جیسے جی ایچ کیو پر دہشت گردوں کی کارروائی اور کئی گھنٹے تک فوج کے اعلیٰ افسروں کو ان کے اپنے ہیڈکوارٹر کے اندر یرغمالی بنا کر رکھنا۔ مہران نیول بیس پر دہشت گردوں کے آزادانہ حملے اور پھر ایبٹ آباد کا واقعہ۔

Jang’s editorial:

توار کی رات بنوں سنٹرل جیل پر عسکریت پسندوں کے لشکر کا حملہ دہشت گردی کا بہت بڑا واقعہ ہے جو اپنی سنگینی کے اعتبار سے مہران بیس اور جی ایچ کیو پر ہونے والے حملوں اور پھر ایبٹ آباد میں امریکی جنگی ہیلی کاپٹروں کی جارحانہ کارروائی سے کسی طور کم اہمیت کا حامل نہیں۔ راکٹ لانچروں، مارٹر گولوں، دستی بموں اور دوسرے جدید ہتھیاروں سے لیس 500سے زائد شدت پسندوں نے بنوں سنٹرل جیل پر حملہ کرکے اہم طالبان کمانڈروں سمیت 386قیدیوں کو چھڑا لیا۔ حیرت کی بات یہ ہے کہ تقریباً 60تیزرفتار گاڑیوں پر سوار حملہ آور رات ڈیڑھ بجے جنگی کانوائے کی صورت میں جیل پہنچے لیکن نہ تو راستے میں انہیں روکنے والا کوئی تھا، نہ فورسز کو خبر ہوئی۔ حملہ آوروں نے پہلے مین گیٹ پھر دوسرے بڑے دروازوں کو راکٹوں سے اڑایا، جیل کے عملے کو یرغمال بنا کر نہایت دیدہ دلیری سے قیدیوں کے پھانسی گھاٹ اور بیرکوں میں داخل ہوئے اور تقریباً ڈیڑھ گھنٹہ تک فائرنگ کرتے اور قیدیوں کو چھڑاتے رہے۔ اس موقع پر جیل کی حفاظت پر مامور 104پولیس اہلکاروں میں سے صرف 35ڈیوٹی پر موجود تھے۔ ان میں سے کئی فائرنگ سے زخمی ہوگئے۔ عینی شاہدین کا کہنا ہے کہ انتظامیہ کو بروقت اطلاع دی گئی اس کے باوجود پولیس یا کسی دوسری سکیورٹی فورس کی اضافی نفری مدد کیلئے نہیں بلائی گئی۔ حملہ آوروں نے پرویز مشرف حملہ کیس کے ملزم کو چھڑانے کے بعد اطمینان سے اس کی دستاربندی کی اور جلوس کی شکل میں اسے اپنے ساتھ لے کر شمالی وزیرستان چلے گئے۔ مذکورہ واقعہ سے حکومتی عملداری کے موثر ہونے اور سکیورٹی ایجنسیوں کی فعالیت کے حوالے سے بعض سنگین سوالات جنم لے رہے ہیں۔ جبکہ دوسری جانب ایسا محسوس ہوتا ہے کہ ملک اور اس کے عوام کو قانون شکنوں اورجرائم پیشہ عناصر کے رحم و کرم پر چھوڑ دیا گیاہے۔بلوچستان اور گلگت بلتستان میں جوکچھ ہورہا ہے اورکراچی میں بے گناہ لوگوں کا جو خون بہہ رہاہے اس سے قانون نافذ کرنے والے اداروں کی عوام کی جان و مال کے تحفظ میں ناکامی کا اظہار ہوتا ہے۔

Hamid Mir writes:

کیا یہ محض ایک اتفاق ہے؟ گزشتہ سال اپریل میں افغان طالبان نے قندھار کی ایک بڑی جیل پر حملہ کیا جس میں پانچ سو سے زیادہ قیدی فرار ہوگئے۔ فرار ہونے والوں میں اکثریت طالبان کی تھی۔ اس سال اپریل میں شمالی وزیرستان سے چند کلو میٹر کے فاصلے پر واقع بنوں کی ایک جیل پر حملہ کیا گیا اور ساڑھے چار سو سے زیادہ قیدیوں کو بھگا دیا گیا۔ بھاگنے والوں میں بڑی تعداد ایسے قیدیوں کی ہے جن پر طالبان اور کچھ کالعدم تنظیموں کے ساتھ تعلق کا الزام ہے۔ بنوں جیل کی انتظامیہ نے دعویٰ کیا ہے کہ حملہ آوروں کی تعداد تین سو سے زیادہ تھی۔ سوال یہ ہے کہ تین سو حملہ آور بھاری اسلحہ کے ساتھ پیدل آئے تھے یا گاڑیوں پر بیٹھ کر آئے تھے؟ تین سو حملہ آوروں نے ساڑھے تین سو قیدیوں کو آزاد کرایا اور پھر یہ ساڑھے چھ سو لوگ رات کی تاریکی میں کدھر غائب ہوگئے؟ سب جانتے ہیں کہ کوہاٹ سے بنوں یا ڈیرہ اسماعیل خان سے بنوں کی طرف آنے جانے والے راستوں پر جگہ جگہ ناکے موجود ہیں۔ شمالی وزیرستان اور بنوں کے درمیان سرحد پر سیکورٹی فورسز کا سخت پہرہ ہوتا ہے۔ بنوں جیل سے سینکڑوں قیدیوں کے فرار کو اگر ہم ایک بہت بڑی ملی بھگت نہ بھی کہیں تو یہ ایک ناقابل فراموش نااہلی ہے۔

This is not easy for them, as their pursuance of violence had a profound effect on the lives of their families. That’s why they regret it every single day of their lives.

The following video link is in Urdu but also available in Seriaki, Balochi, Pushto and Sindhi.

On April 30, 1999, Benazir Bhutto Shaheed disclosed to media that there was a definite role of Osama bin Laden, Mian Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan army’s 111 Brigade in toppling her first government in early 1990s. “Bin Laden financed an operation to topple me in cooperation with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and the Pakistani intelligence services,” she had stated in an interview with the London-based al-Hayat newspaper. “Ramzi Yussef (implicated in the 1993 New York World Trade Centre bombing) tried to assassinate me on two occasions in 1993 to facilitate Nawaz Sharif’s rise to power. Yussef admitted to Pakistani investigators before his extradition to the United States that it was his duty to assassinate me, only because I was a woman in charge of the government,” she had added.

In another interview with Herald magazine on January 11, 2001. “Osama paid $10 million to overthrow my government during my first term. A serving Corps Commander held several meetings with PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and Bin Laden to chalk out the plan to topple my government. Osama bin Laden was told that a woman in the prime minister’s position in an Islamic country was against Islam (Osama’s Islam) and so he should give them money to overthrow her. Nawaz Sharif told bin Laden he would bring Islam (Osama’s Islam) to Pakistan.”

In year 2006, former head of Jamat Islami Qazi Hussain, endorsed BB’s statements, Qazi Hussain was close aide of Osama bin Laden, he claimed that he himself was eyewitness of these developments. Afterwards, former ISI official, Khalid Khawaja revealed that being a close friend of Osama bin Laden he had arranged meetings of Nawaz Sharif with Osama for toppling BB’s democratic governments.

And, now, Mehrangate revelations have exposed the devils of the state and reaffirmed the fear that political parties should have in them. In his interview to an anchor of private news channel, CEO of now defunct Mehran Bank, Younis Habib has restarted a new debateon devils of the state.

Those politicians and public office bearers who committed such flagitious and heinous crimes against Pakistan have been uncovered. Articles 6, 62 and 63 have been violated. It is beyond any shadow of doubt that sovereignty of the state was compromised by activities of devils of state. This is the biggest blunder of country’s history after fall of Dhaka. No one is above the law, Those who are involved in this scandal should be punished according to the laws of state and all these devils must be disqualified from politics for lifetime, so that our country’s politics is kept clean of these devils of the state.

As Shahbaz Sharif so proudly sings the couplet, “aisay dastoor, subhe bay noor ko meinn nahee manta!”, we as proud supporters of PPP “aisay jhootay aur makkaron ko nahee mantay!”

Will the Kohistan massacre of Shias on Feb 28 arouse similar revulsion and act as a spur to equally decisive action on the part of the government? Fat chance.

When an identical massacre of Shias occurred in Mastung last year nothing much happened and so too, the killing of Shia doctors which has continued sporadically for years. Worse, there has been precious little by way of an effective response from the authorities. Of course, Rahman Malik does promise to rain fire and brimstone on the killers.

The fact is we have become inured to violence, especially in far off “no go” areas of the country, like Fata, Gilgit-Baltistan and Balochistanwhere it is now endemic. And unless we rouse ourselves to wrestle with this evil revenge attacks and further bloodshed will continue. What is it that drives Jundullah (Kohistan) and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (Mastung) which eagerly claim responsibility for the Shia killings to act as they do?

According to Tawfiq al Rubaie, spokesman of Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the leader of Iraqi Shias: “They think that Shias are infidels and Shia lives, money and women are permissible for them to take, and that killing Shias is one of the requirements to enter paradise.”

Such hatred is not susceptible to reason or argument. Actually, to think anything will cure such madness would itself amount to madness. Hence, the only answer is for the state to take them on with no quarter given.

There are no signs of this happening. On the contrary, Shia-hating psychopaths are becoming increasingly brazen. They move about in Fata as if they had a free pass from whomever.

Condemning the Kohistan killings the UN secretary general said he “stands by” Pakistan’s efforts to combat such terror. We should be worried. From “stands by,” to “urging” or “calling upon” Pakistan to end the killings will be a small but important step. The latter would suggest we are either helpless to prevent atrocities or will not, for whatever reason, and that would amount to an open invitation to outsiders to come to the help of groups they feel are being victimised. In a sense that is already happening judging by dollops of assistance rival sects are receiving from abroad.

A state that cannot protect its citizens from random violence and butchery cannot have a claim on their loyalty. History teaches us that whenever people suspect a lack of resolve on the part of the state in fighting crimes, a revolt is never far away. By the looks of it we are at such a juncture.

Islamabad really has no choice: the freaks and the organisations which hunt down Shias and Sunnis must be eliminated and effectively shut down or else the resulting strife will make the ongoing fighting in Balochistan seem like a mere bar room fracas.

It’s was good, therefore, to hear Kayani offer the military’s cooperation to nab the culprits of the Kohistan atrocity. Not that anyone really thinks it will make much of a difference. Few killers ever get caught and only a fraction of those apprehended get to pay for their crimes.

We are facing this predicament today only because successive governments in Pakistan have treated the outlying regions of Pakistan as “no go” areas for development and especially education. Jinnah is praised for leaving alone to manage their affairs by withdrawing the army from Fata in 1948. But that didn’t mean they should have been left to fend for themselves even as the government poured funds into development of nearby “settled” areas. A policy of benign neglect when pursued endlessly becomes malign and, in due course, malignant.

In retrospect, depriving Fata of proper schools and of universities and the opportunity of becoming a part of the national political process, proved a lethal mistake. Criminality, gunrunning and smuggling has thrived for want of jobs, and so too guns for hire.

It was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan which sanctified the marriage between vice and virtue or crime and jihad. Camps were set up to train, among others, extremists, murderers and criminals to become efficient killing machines. Their beliefs scarcely mattered as long as they could kill Russians. And then, of course, the Russians withdrew and the roof caved in.

Meanwhile, dictators like Ziaul Haq and weak civilian regimes which were perennially in hock to the Gulf statelets, acted much like serial debtors groveling before their creditors, making excuses for tardy repayments and promising to please their patrons, even as they craved their indulgence and a further fistful of dollars.

Worse, they allowed in foreign preachers and stood by as these imports doused Pakistan with their message of hate and intolerance. So much so that the deadly virus of extremism is now out of control.

It is not for nothing that we are viewed today as the fount of terror the world over. Only the other day in Slovenia, the factory owner of a local telecommunication company was scolded by the national secret service for receiving a delegation of Pakistani officials. And it isn’t a coincidence that no country in the world allows a Pakistani without a visa to enter, his passport, whether Official or Diplomatic, on its own, being insufficient. Frankly, we live in a dangerously dysfunctional state ever in dread of what the morrow will bring and what dark menace it may hold.

As for our extremists they possess an exceptional and almost pathological constitution. They make for excellent martyrs as they have a natural penchant for “shahadat” (martyrdom). Except that they seek to earn that glorified status not by killing the aggressor in war but by killing fellow citizens of another sect because that way they believe their deeds will get more purchase with heaven. In fact, all they achieve is to enable outsiders to denigrate Muslim society as mediaeval and barbarous and assign a far higher worth to non-Muslim lives than Muslim, as we have seen in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It is much too late to fiddle around with their genetic code. However, no elaborate rewiring is required to persuade the millions of decent Pakistanis that unless the psychopaths who murder on account of sect or faith are stopped, the collective punishment all of us will have to bear will be more than what we can withstand.

True, it’s much too ambitious to expect that we can return this country quickly to the path of a tolerant and progressive Islam that Jinnah had envisaged. But at least we can hope to reclaim our place as a civilised state in the comity of nations. That will be good enough for the moment, anything more would be a bonus.

The writer is a former ambassador.

Email: charles123it@hotmail.com

Source: The News

Today's massacre of 20 Shias in Gilgit reminds of similar Shia massacre in Mastung, Balochistan

Related posts: AHRC Report: It is hard to refute the accusation that military is involved in killing of Shias in Pakistan

Those committing genocides in Pakistan and their handlers are repeat offenders – by Dr. Mohammad Taqi

Today’s massacre of at least 20 Shia Muslimss in Gilgit brings the tally of murdered and injured Shias close to 250 since the beginning of 2012 and aside from two dedicated articles, both in the Daily Times, and both by two honourable Pashtuns, Pakistan’s “progressive”, “liberal” and “secular” media remains defeaningly silent on this topic.  While Pakistan’s social media networks have been abuzz with Oscar awards, cricket matches, Maya Khan and Veena Malik, aside from the token tweet and sentence, Pakistan’s liberal media continues to ignore the ongoing Shia Genocide in Pakistan.

The PPP-led government remains both clueless and helpless to stop this ongoing genocide – while some of its elected representatives have spoken out against this but the world knows that it is not the elected Government in Pakistan that has enabled Shia Genocide – it is the military establishment.  The ISI’s partnership with the nexus of interconnected extremist Deobandi-Salafi groups (TTP, Jundullah, SSP-ASWJ-LeJ, JM, LeT) responsible for this has been formalized via Difa-e-Pakistan Counci (DPC). Furthermore, alternate political groups like Imran Khan’s PTI are also complicit as evidenced by their open support for DPC.

The right-wing in the Urdu vernacular press has no qualms in sympathizing with the Jihadists responsible for such acts.  However, their (mostly) pseudo-liberal counterparts in the English language segment of the media is even worse.  The latter claim to be liberal and progressive – however, after the third major Shia massacre in 2012 (Khanpur 34 killed, Parachinar 49 killed, Gilgit 20 killed), aside from the two examples mentioned, they have either remained silent, uttered the token condemnation or grossly misrepresented the issue as a routine Sunni vs Shia violence.

LUBP has provided a detailed has provided detailed casualty figures for Shias in January 2012;

http://criticalppp.com/archives/70763

This data is also available at other Shia websites and facebook groups – in case our “liberal” media can take time off from self-congratulation and the England-Pakistan cricket series.

It has also provided detailed analysis on this topic. Refer to:

Intellectual dishonesty in misrepresenting Shia massacres in Pakistan

Yet Pakistan’s “liberal” media is more at ease in writing on safe issues or those that can further material advancement.  The topic of Shia genocide is off limits because it exposes the role of Pakistan’s security establishment.  This is where Pakistan’s “liberal” media has drawn its limits.  It is excellent in token gestures, taking up “safe” causes that do not affect the interests of the military establishment. In furthering its financial interests through NGOs and heaping platitudes on each other, Pakistan’s “liberal” media is probably one of the best in the world.  However, for the embattled Shia Muslims of Pakistan, they appear to be least bothered.  When Pakistan’s liberal and progressive activists stay silent, misrepresent or provide brief, token protest on the Shia genocide taking place, it enables and encourages the Shia-killing Jihadists.

We can only hope that Pakistan’s influential English media writers take up this issue and present it to the rest of the world.

This is what today’s tragic massacre of Shia muslims may have looked like. This is the graphic video of a similar massacre that took place in Mastung, Balochistan just a few months ago.

Video report on Shia massacre in Kohistan:

**********

Dead bodies of slain Shia Muslims were brought to Gilgit

Senior political and strategic analyst Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa clearly identifies Pakistan army and its Jihadi policies as responisble for Shia massacre:

’ شاید اب ہوش آجائے‘
آخری وقت اشاعت: منگل 28 فروری 2012 ,‭ 15:54 GMT

پاکستان میں منگل کو گلگت بلتستان جانے والی ایک مسافر بس سے شیعہ فرقے سے تعلق رکھنے والے افراد کو کوہستان کے علاقے میں بس سے اتار کر نامعلوم حملہ آووروں نے گولیاں مار کر ہلاک کر دیا۔ پاکستان میں بڑھتے ہوئے فرقہ وارانہ واقعات پر بی بی سی اردو سروس کے پروگرام سیربین میں دفاعی امور کی ماہر ڈاکٹر عائشہ صدیقہ سے بات کی۔

http://www.bbc.co.uk/urdu/pakistan/2012/02/120228_interview_aiyshah_fz.shtml

Pashtuns are believed to be the largest segmentary lineage society in the world today. They have been living in their defined homeland areas since ages, in a social order loosely defined by the code of Pashtunwali.

They believe in the myth that they are children of one common ancestor, Qaise, who converted to Islam once he met the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). However, there is historical evidence that Pashtuns did not convert in mass and as late as 12th century there were non-Muslim Pashtuns residing in tribal areas.

Being a leaderless society, the tribal system does not usually develop institutionalized political power. They feel that all Pashtuns are born equal and individuals can change the existing social and economic inequality. Tribals lead a semi independent life as per their code of conduct, managing their social issues and disputes through a council of elders known as Jirga. Invaders passed through the lands of some of these tribes for thousand of years, but did not bring any significant change in their social system.

In the post-Soviet times, civil order, economy and security were restored faster in the areas where the tribal system was dominant or intact

These tribes, on both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, were almost independent. The Sikhs administered these areas by maintaining strong forces at district level; but the tribes openly asserted their independence. The relations of the British with the tribes depended on the situation in Afghanistan. They did not make any serious effort to penetrate the area except for some punitive expeditions and defending the passes which led to Afghanistan. The Durand Line divided tribes on both sides, but the British provided them with easement rights for their back and forth movement. They used the tribal areas as the second buffer between them and Russia, the first being Afghanistan.

After the creation of Pakistan, a special status was granted to these areas. They were declared Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Tribals were used as non-state actors in both the Kashmir wars of 1947-48 and 1965.

Until the 1970s, about 70% of the tribal areas were administratively inaccessible. No Pakistani official was allowed to enter. In 1973, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto formulated a policy of opening up of the tribal areas through development. An industrial unit was established in each agency. Two new agencies, Bajaur and Orakzai, were formed. Electricity was provided to some of the areas and road infrastructure was developed. Some of the areas that were opened up had tactical importance during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. Most of the remaining inaccessible areas like Tirah and Shawal were partially opened in the aftermath of 9/11.

In the Pashtun social system, the inhabitants of a village are normally divided into three segments, the Pashtuns, Mian or Mullah (religious functionaries) and Kasabgars (professionals, like barbers and carpenters). The influential class has always been the Pashtuns. The Kasabgars have seldom challenged the authority of Pashtuns; they have concentrated on earning their livelihood and providing education to their children. A number of them excelled in fields like medicine, engineering, education, armed forces and even in politics. But once they make a name for themselves, they want to be known as Pashtun, by aligning with the tribe in whose area they were born and brought up.

The roles of the Khan or Malik and the government officials posted in the area are well defined. They derive legitimacy from state laws. The Mullah is made to perform only some religious rituals. And he is not content with this limited role. He wants his role to be defined and expanded to make him part of the decision-making process in the Pashtun society. Religious people have led almost all the Pashtun uprisings against invaders in history. Followers of Ahmed Shah Barelvi (1863) rose against Sikhs and the British, Pir Roshan (16th century) against Akbar, Sartor Faqir (1897) against the British, Powinda Mullah (1893-1913) also against the British. Faqir of Ipi (1935-1947) was also a key resistance fighter. The leadership of these movements remained with the Mullah only for the duration of the Jihad. When the battles were over, the Khans and Maliks became leaders again.

In the Pashtun society, Rawaj (custom) has generally been more dominant than religion. Music, dance, non-observance of pardha within a tribe, women shaking hands with men, were commonly seen in Pashtuns. They would perform all rituals religiously, but would never force these on others, except for fasting, which is considered an act of Pashtun honor.

The Afghan Jihad did not bring any significant change in the life of the average Pashtun. The Pashtun society started changing once preachers started going to these areas. They were peaceful, polite, and non-coercive, and they were able to persuade older Pashtuns to lay down some restrictions on the younger ones. Music, which was a regular feature of hujras and weddings, was banned in some areas.

But the event that really changed the Pashtun way of life was the rise of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Talib was a familiar character in each Pashtun village, known as Chinay in Pashto. Docile, well mannered, quite, friendly, not interfering, not preaching, just concerned with his own task, collecting food for the imam of the mosque. In November 1994, once the Taliban captured Kandahar, nobody, including the intelligence agencies, was sure who they were, and who was supporting them. They suspected it was the US.

In the next few years, what the Taliban practiced was in contrast with Pashtun culture. Under the influence of Al Qaeda, they tried to implement Wahabi and Salafi culture. Inspired by them, the talibs of Pakistan also raised forces in Orakzai and North Waziristan. In the aftermath of 9/11 and NATO operations in Afghanistan, members of Al Qaeda, Pakistani Jihadis, secterian outfits, Uighur fighters from China, and groups from Central Asia took refuge in FATA and other parts of Pakistan. Jihadi organizations and some tribals supported them.

The state could not decide on the course of action to be taken against them. They had never seen such a situation in the past. The tribals suspected that state was supporting these elements, therefore they submitted to the Taliban, who used brute force against prominent tribal elders.

Taliban meet none of these criteria in Afghanistan or Pakistan, and therefore cannot be considered a Pashtun nationalist movement. They take ideological and political inspiration from Arabs and other non-Pashtuns. They have consciously, as a matter of policy, targeted different cultural traits of Pashtuns, like tribal councils and folk music; they are not concerned about the language and promote mostly Arabic and/or interestingly, Urdu; Economic resources or their control is not their concern; neither is any political or administrative manifestation of Pashtun identity their goal.

They have killed a large number of traditional Pashtun elders in FATA and banned the Jirga as means of dispute settlement in areas under their influence. They have been eliminating the Pashtun way of life.

Taliban have, as a matter of policy, targeted cultural traits of Pashtuns, like tribal councils and folk music; they are not concerned about Pashto and promote Arabic and/or Urdu
The term ‘Taliban’ referred to students of madrassas. The current use of the term started when Mullah Umar led some of those students to rise against the atrocities of the Mujahideen groups who had fought against the Soviet Union. In the beginning, even Americans considered them a force to counter pan-Islamists as well as the neighbouring Shia Iran. But very soon, international terrorists, mainly Al Qaeda, established connections with the Taliban.

Today, the only connection that they have with Pashtuns is that the term Taliban is a Pashto plural for the Arabic term Talib (student), and that they are using Pashtun territory. The only thing that unites these diverse groups is that they follow a particular brand of Islam. Quite a large number of them come from Punjab.

The Pakistani state considered the intervention of Soviet Union an opportunity to achieve long-cherished policy aims based on its threat perceptions from India. It had always considered Afghanistan’s closeness with India as against its security and also feared Afghan claims about the Durand Line. In this situation it had always seen the Pashtun nationalist with suspicion. The unitary post-colonial state of Pakistan had always considered all the pluralist democratic identity movements as a threat. Due to the Afghan connection, Pashtun identity politics and autonomy aspirations, even within Pakistan, were considered more so.

Pakistan’s use of religious extremists as a tool of policy began in early 1970s when most of the Mujahideen leaders who rose to fame in 1980s were backed to oppose President Daud’s government in Afghanistan. This policy was furthered later by promoting the Mujahideen amongst the resistance movement at the expense of Pashtun nationalists (Afghan Millat, one such Pashtun Nationalist Party from Afghanistan, was denied freedom of action in 1980s) amongst the anti-Soviet resistance. The Pakistani state aimed at a social and political engineering of Pashtuns. It was believed that a secular Pashtun cannot be trusted. There was similar mistrust of the secular freedom fighters in Kashmir too.

The Taliban were supported before 9/11 with the similar aims – as an alternative to those liberal Afghan Pashtuns who were getting increasingly fed up of the warring Mujahideen groups. Even after 9/11, Pakistan does not talk about Pashtun tribal elders or Pashtun nationalists of secular leanings when it expresses concern about Pashtun representation in Afghanistan.

In FATA, the current Taliban concentration includes a sizeable number of non Pashtuns and Al Qaeda. The extremist challenge in Punjab is taken to be a completely separate problem, and the very strong presence and role of Punjabis in FATA is often denied.

The approach also suits pan-Islamists because it makes it easier for them to use Pashtun territory on both sides of the Durand Line as a sanctuary and provides them with a constant source of of foot soldiers. They are aided by the lack of modern state governance in those area. But none of the insurgents talks about this lack of governance, or the rights of Pashtun in any part of Pakistan or Afghanistan.

On the contrary, Talibanisation is de-Pashunisation of the Pashtun, and may lead to the de-Pakistanisation of the Pashtun.

Source: TFT

Pakistan is finding it harder to convince outsiders it is not helping the Afghan Taliban and giving safe haven to its leaders.

In effect, the accusation is that Pakistan is betting on the insurgents being the strongest power in Afghanistan and most likely ally once Nato leaves – something Islamabad of course strenuously denies.

The leak of this report comes at a particularly sensitive time. Pakistan is already blocking the supply route to coalition forces in Afghanistan, following a Nato attack in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed.

With increasing pressure being heaped on Pakistan, public support here for formally ending co-operation with the West simply grows.

Aleem Maqbool
BBC News, Islamabad

The Taliban in Afghanistan are being directly assisted by Pakistani security services, according to a secret Nato report seen by the BBC.

The leaked report, derived from thousands of interrogations, claims the Taliban remain defiant and have wide support among the Afghan people.

A BBC correspondent says the report is painful reading for international forces and the Afghan government.

A Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman called the accusations “ridiculous”.

“We are committed to non-interference in Afghanistan and expect all other states to strictly adhere to this principle,” Abdul Basit told the BBC.

“A stable and peaceful Afghanistan is in our own interests. We cannot indulge in any activity which takes us away from achieving that objective,” he added.

The report alleges that Pakistan knows the locations of senior Taliban leaders.

“We have long been concerned about ties between elements of the ISI [Pakistan's intelligence service] and some extremist networks,” said US Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby, adding that the US Defence Department had not yet seen the report.

Pakistan Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar is currently in Kabul for talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

‘Informational’

The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville in Kabul says the report – on the state of the Taliban – fully exposes for the first time the relationship between the ISI and the Taliban.

The report is based on material from 27,000 interrogations with more than 4,000 captured Taliban, al-Qaeda and other foreign fighters and civilians.

It notes: “Pakistan’s manipulation of the Taliban senior leadership continues unabatedly”.

It says that Pakistan is aware of the locations of senior Taliban leaders.

“Senior Taliban representatives, such as Nasiruddin Haqqani, maintain residences in the immediate vicinity of ISI headquarters in Islamabad,” it said.

It quotes a senior al-Qaeda detainee as saying: “Pakistan knows everything. They control everything. I can’t [expletive] on a tree in Kunar without them watching.”

“The Taliban are not Islam. The Taliban are Islamabad.”

Our correspondent says the report seems to suggest that the Taliban feel trapped by ISI control and fear they will never escape its influence.

However, it states: “As this document is derived directly from insurgents it should be considered informational and not necessarily analytical.”

Adm Mike Mullen, former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, has explained Pakistan’s closeness to the Afghan Taliban by pointing to infiltration of its army by the religious right, but he also says it is part of a grand strategy to increase leverage in the region via “proxies”.

Despite Nato’s strategy to secure the country with Afghan forces, the secret document details widespread collaboration between the insurgents and Afghan police and military.

Lt Col Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) in Afghanistan, said the document was “a classified internal document that is not meant to be released to the public”.

“It is a matter of policy that documents that are classified are not discussed under any circumstances,” he said.

The report also depicts the depth of continuing support among the Afghan population for the Taliban, our correspondent says.

It paints a picture of al-Qaeda’s influence diminishing but the Taliban’s influence increasing, he adds.

Taliban influence

In a damning conclusion, the document says that in the last year there has been unprecedented interest, even from members of the Afghan government, in joining the Taliban cause.

It adds: “Afghan civilians frequently prefer Taliban governance over the Afghan government, usually as a result of government corruption.”

The report has evidence that the Taliban are purposely hastening Nato’s withdrawal by deliberately reducing their attacks in some areas and then initiating a comprehensive hearts-and-minds campaign.

It says that in areas where Isaf has withdrawn, Taliban influence has increased, often with little or no resistance from government security forces. And in many cases, with the active help of the Afghan police and army.

When foreign soldiers leave, Afghan security forces are expected to take control.

The report says that surrender is far from their collective mindset.

“For the moment, they believe that continuing the fight and expanding Taliban governance are their only viable courses of action,” it adds.

According to the report, rifles, pistols and heavy weapons have been sold by Afghan security forces in bazaars in Pakistan.

The report adds that Taliban members “do not receive salaries or other financial incentives for their work”, but their operations are funded by the narcotics trade and they frequently take a cut from the trade.

Their main revenue, though, is from donations, and they travel around the country from door to door making no secret of their affliation, it says.

Source: BBC News

Interestingly both Pakistan and Taliban deny:

Pakistan has rejected accusations laid out in a leaked Nato report that it was secretly supporting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

The Taliban also issued a denial that it is planning peace talks with the Afghan government in Saudi Arabia.

The statements came as the leaked Nato report charged that Pakistan’s security services were backing the Taliban militia, who consider victory inevitable once Western combat troops leave in 2014.

The leak was spectacularly bad timing for Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, who was in Kabul for the first time since taking office last year in a bid to thaw frosty ties between the two neighbours.

“We have no hidden agenda in Afghanistan,” Khar told reporters after meeting President Hamid Karzai. “These claims have been made many, many times. Pakistan stands behind any initiative that the Afghan government takes for peace.”

The Taliban chose the same day to deny that they would soon hold talks with Karzai’s government in Saudi Arabia to end the decade-long war since they were toppled by a US-led invasion in 2001.

“There is no truth in these published reports saying that the delegation of the Islamic Emirate would meet with representatives of the Karzai government in Saudi Arabia in the near future,” the Taliban said on their website.

Afghan officials had suggested that talks in Saudi Arabia would be in addition to contacts in Qatar between the Taliban and the United States.

But it was never clear whether the Taliban, who have resisted talks with the Afghan government, or the Saudis, who have conditioned involvement on the Taliban renouncing al-Qaeda, would come on board.

Taliban negotiators have begun preliminary discussions with the United States in Qatar on plans for peace talks aimed at ending the war.

But they said in their statement on Wednesday that they had not yet “reached the negotiation phase with the US and its allies”.

“Before there are negotiations there should be a trust-building phase, which has not begun yet,” the statement said.

One of the Taliban’s demands is for the United States to free five of its leaders from detention in the US military prison in Guantanamo Bay.

The leaked Nato report – seen by The Times newspaper and the BBC – was compiled from information gleaned from insurgent detainees and was given to Nato commanders in Afghanistan last month.

The “State of the Taliban” document claims that Islamabad, via Pakistan’s ISI intelligence agency, is “intimately involved” with the insurgency and that the Taliban assume victory is inevitable once Western troops leave in 2014.

The Times quoted the report as saying the Taliban’s “strength, motivation, funding and tactical proficiency remains intact”, despite setbacks in 2011.

“Many Afghans are already bracing themselves for an eventual return of the Taliban,” it said.

“Once (Nato force) ISAF is no longer a factor, Taliban consider their victory inevitable.”

Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), however, appeared to distance itself from the contents of the document.

The document “may provide some level of representative sampling of Taliban opinions and ideals but clearly should not be used as any interpretation of campaign progress”, spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings told AFP.

Pakistan’s foreign minister said: “We consider any threat to Afghanistan’s independence and sovereignty as a threat to Pakistan’s existence.

“Pakistan and Afghanistan need to look forward to a relationship based on trust.”

Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul told the same news conference: “There will be no peace in the region if there is no serious regional co-operation.

“Pakistan plays a key role in Afghan peace process. I hope Ms Rabani’s visit is the beginning of a good relationship between our two countries.”

Kabul government officials declined immediate comment on the report.

Source: AFP

Editor’s note: We strongly condemn brutal execution of 15 Pakistan army soldiers by a more radical and non-conforming group of the Taliban. In Pakistan army’s terminology, any group of Taliban which attacks Afghan and NATO officials and civilians is described as good Taliban while those groups which attack Pakistan army are described as bad Taliban. Today, the bad Taliban released a graphic video of how the 15 FC soldiers were killed in a most brutal manner.

Overall this episode has three important messages:

1. Pakistan army’s policy of nurturing, training and protecting Jihadi-sectarian assets has failed. The non-uniformed, unregimented Jihadi-sectarian beasts cannot be expected to follow the strategic and operational directions of Pakistan army commanders (including the ISI and MI commanders). The brainwashed Islamo-fascist mercenaries whose Jihadi-sectarian spirits have been galvanized through a radical Saudi-Salafi-Deobandi ideology cannot be expected to honour or follow Pakistan’s national laws and army regulations and directives;

2. The Jihadi-sectarian beasts (Taliban and their affiliates with amorphous and overlapping boundaries, e.g., Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (camouflaged as Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamaat ASWJ or Lashkar-e-Jhangvi LeJ), Jaish-e-Muhammad JeM etc) have little regard for humanity and Islam;

3. Pakistan’s pro-military establishment media, both right wingers in Urdu press and self-professed liberals in English press, have ignored or underplayed the brutal execution of Pakistani soldiers by the Taliban. The same people who were extremely noisy and aggressive after the NATO’s attack on Salala check-post have failed to condemn the Taliban’s brutality against Pakistan army and civilians (including Shias, Ahmadis, Christians, Barelvis etc). Instead, many of them are active proponents of talks and reconciliation with the Taliban. This not only shows their hypocrisy but also selective morality. (End note)

Some comments:

Razarumi Raza Rumi
Let’s talk about ..err peace..RT @etribune: #Taliban video highlights revenge on #Pakistan #military bit.ly/AcXv8v

needroos Nadir El-Edroos
Negotiations? How did that turn out -Taliban video highlights revenge on Pakistan military http://t.co/r14vARXS

NadeemfParacha Nadeem F. Paracha
Please stop drone attacks on these innocent patriots … dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2…

Oval54
The problem is that when Taliban or #AlQaeda kills Pak soldiers no one talks about it. Too many apologists bit.ly/yTkYYb

TarekFatah
A month since Taliban executed 15 Pakistani POWs, yet no outrage. Now watch the executions; perhaps.. bit.ly/yTkYYb

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Handcuffed, blindfolded and shot in the back of the head: Taliban releases horrific video of executions of 15 Pakistani soldiers
The paramilitary troops were abducted on December 23
‘God is greatest’ the Taliban yelled as they fired AK-47 rifles
Horrific video has been copied and distributed in street markets

By JILL REILLY

22nd January 2012

A video showing fifteen Pakistani soldiers being lined up and shot dead by a firing squad has been released by the Taliban.

The paramilitary troops were abducted on December 23 in what the terror group described as an operation to avenge the deaths of insurgents in Pakistan.

The release of the horrific video is intended to serve as a warning to Pakistan’s 600,000-member army, which has failed to break the back of the insurgents despite superior firepower and a series of offensives against their strongholds in mountain regions.

WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Disturbing footage: The paramilitary troops were abducted by Pakistan's Taliban on December 23 and in the video, they are shown to be handcuffed, blindfolded and lined up, before being shot at point-blank range.

The abducted soldiers were stood blindfolded, handcuffed to each other on a barren hilltop as one of their bearded Taliban captors held an AK-47 rifle and spoke with fury about revenge.

‘Twelve of our comrades were besieged and mercilessly martyred in the Khyber Agency (area),’ said the militant.

‘Our pious women were also targeted. To avenge those comrades, we will kill these men. We warn the government of Pakistan that if the killing of our friends is not halted, this will be the fate of you all.’

Before death, one of the men described how dozens of Taliban fighters stormed their fort in the northwestern Tank district and kidnapped the soldiers.

‘They attacked us with rockets, killed a sentry. One ran away. The Taliban entered the fort and captured us with our weapons,’ he said, sitting in rows with other soldiers with their arms folded and legs crossed in front of Taliban banners.

‘They tied our hands, put us in a Datsun and took us away.’

The video then shows the men standing quietly. Taliban chanting can be heard. ‘We will cross all limits to avenge your blood,’ it said, referring to fighters killed by Pakistani security forces.

One of the men shoves a clip into his assault rifle and fires a few rounds into the back of the heads of a few of the soldiers. ‘God is greatest,’ the Taliban yell.

Other fighters step up and take turns pumping bullets into the men, some wearing green military uniforms. Each time a soldier collapses, the man standing next to him is pulled in that direction by the handcuffs.

The Taliban and Pakistan’s military, one of the largest in the world, have entered exploratory peace talks that raised hopes that their conflict, which has killed thousands of people, could ease, or even end one day.

But the talks have faltered, a senior Pakistani security official told Reuters, and the video – copied to compact discs and distributed in street markets in areas near the porous border with Afghanistan – is likely to enrage the army.

Formed in 2007, the TTP is an umbrella group of Pakistani militant factions operating in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Allied with the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda, it pledged to overthrow the Pakistani government after the military started operations against militant groups.

It is blamed for many of the suicide bombings across the country and has carried out audacious attacks, including one on army headquarters near the capital Islamabad in 2009.

After the shooting ends in the video, the Taliban militants stare at the bodies slumped over on the earth.

‘If the killing of our friends is not stopped, this will be the fate of all infidel armies, God willing,’ says one militant.

Majeed Marwat, a commander of the Frontier Corps said morale among his men would always remain high despite such videos.

‘Our soldiers enlist because they want to sacrifice for the country. We are taking care of the families of the martyred soldiers,’ he told Reuters.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2090165/Taliban-releases-horrific-video-executions-15-Pakistani-soldiers.html

Video report